


The Pink Nexu Affair

by ineptshieldmaid



Series: The Rehabilitation of Ex-Stormtroopers: A Study In Cats, Pranks, and Spacecraft Mechanics [2]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: M/M, Pranks, team ground crew
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-18
Updated: 2016-03-18
Packaged: 2018-05-27 11:40:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,584
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6283093
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ineptshieldmaid/pseuds/ineptshieldmaid
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Dagger squadron have a mascot. So do Blue Squadron, but Blue Squadron’s is an angry, hissing tooka who hates everyone except Finn and Poe. Dagger have a stuffed toy. It is a lifesize, although unrealistically rendered, pink Nexu, posed to stand on its hind legs. It has far fewer teeth than an actual Nexu, and is wearing sunglasses.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Pink Nexu Affair

**Author's Note:**

  * For [kayloulee](https://archiveofourown.org/users/kayloulee/gifts).



> No good excuse except I remembered a prank once pulled by a fighter squadron of my acquaintance, and felt the need to gift it to Finn et al.

Dagger Squadron and Stiletto Squadron are engaged in a long and complicated prank war. It began while they were both stationed on D’Qar: someone dyed all of Stiletto squadron’s bantha milk supply purple, and Dagger squadron maintained innocence. The pilots from Blue and Red squads know where the blame lies for the bantha milk incident, but keep their lips sealed. 

Skirmishes in this war have been sporadic since Stiletto were posted to the Echo of Hope. Dagger are not without resources, however: their ground crew, in particular, are on good terms with Red Squadron’s ground crew. In retaliation for an incident in which all the furnishings of Dagger’s rec room had been rearranged in perfect alignment on the tarmac, several members of Stiletto's maintenance crew arrived on the Echo of Hope to find that their bunkroom doors, instead of opening onto their bunkrooms, opened onto carefully fashioned broom closets complete with brooms. 

Several months later, Finn is still watching the video footage (lifted from security tapes and dispatched to every member of the Starfighter Corps) every so often on his datapad and giggling to himself.

Stiletto have not rested on their laurels. Their skeleton maintenance crew had seemed, for a few weeks, to be keeping their heads down and postponing hostilities until the two squads are more evenly matched. This turned out to be a matter of lulling their foes into a false sense of security, because after a few weeks, Dagger’s youngest and lowest-ranked stagger home one night from D’Qar’s only bar and find that each and every one of the toilets in the enlisted member’s dorms has been sealed over with transparent film.

Dagger retaliate by sneaking into Stiletto’s hangar at night - the skeleton crew don’t work late shift. Stiletto’s maintenance crew have been tasked with refurbishing a squad of five A-Wings while their usual ships are out on deployment. Dagger wrap every single one of them in shiny, crackly yellow plastic, the sort you use to wrap large gifts in.

And then there’s the matter of the mascot. Dagger squadron have a mascot. So do Blue Squadron, but Blue Squadron’s is an angry, hissing tooka who hates everyone except Finn and Poe. Dagger have a stuffed toy. It is a lifesize, although unrealistically rendered, pink Nexu, posed to stand on its hind legs. It has far fewer teeth than an actual Nexu, and is wearing sunglasses. 

Dagger’s crew, both pilot and maintenance, take this mascot - helpfully known as Pink Nexu - on furlough with them. The Starfighter Corps internal holoboards are frequently graced with pictures of Pink Nexu drinking in seedy bars, sunbathing on attractive beaches, or being carried around various commercial centres by off-duty Resistance members.

Finn worries they will be too easily recognisable. Poe, laughing, explains that Pink Nexu features in a series of cartoons - apparently he a loveable animated villain - and large stuffed versions of Pink Nexu are sold to and beloved by fully-grown adults all over the galaxy. Finn does not understand this, but Jess insists he watch a full series of Pink Nexu cartoons, and he has to admit they’re quite funny.

So, Pink Nexu is firmly established as the symbol of Dagger Squad. Stiletto, it is rumoured, are planning to kidnap Pink Nexu as soon as they get a chance. Consequently, much outrage and widespread hilarity ensues when someone hacks into the holonet settings and changes the user image of every single Stiletto member to a dancing, grinning Pink Nexu. Especially when it turns out their clearance to change their own user images has been revoked, and Resistance Communication Services are suspiciously busy and unable to deal with non-operational requests from the Echo of Hope for a whole week.

* * *

Blue Squad are being deployed back to the Echo of Hope. They’re replacing Red Squad, who have done a full six months in deep space and deserve some time planetside. There have been no clashes with the First Order for months, not even a skirmish. The Republic, or what remains of it, is starting to make noises about non-aggression treaties. The Resistance assume this is the calm before the storm. Everyone is nervy. Finn doesn’t sleep well anymore, even with Cabrón sitting on his head and Poe’s arm flung across his middle.

The Millennium Falcon touches down on D’Qar two days before Blue Squad are due to fly out. The mood lifts to jubilation when it proves true that Rey has brought back the Jedi master, Luke Skywalker. Blue Squad’s farewell party turns into a welcome-back party, although Master Skwalker slips away early, and Chewbacca follows him.

Finn suspects Rey would like to go, too, but the pilots have got her cornered, buying her drinks (non alcoholic, sickeningly sweet) and begging her for stories about Luke, about the Falcon, about training to be a Jedi.

‘There’s a lot of meditating involved,’ is all Rey will say about Jedi training, but she tells them all about Chewbacca getting into a fight with some kind of aquatic mammal that beached on the shore near Luke’s island, and that seems to satisfy them.

Finn stays close by her side, and tries not to think about the fact that he has to leave tomorrow. General Organa finds him anyway.

‘Are you… certain, Mister Finn? That you’re ready for deployment?’ The General asks him. He looks down at his uniform: he’s got a uniform now, with the simple two-stripe Airman’s insignia on his sleeve.

‘I might never be ready,’ he says, squaring his jaw. ‘But I’m willing.’ And _you asked me to_ , he doesn’t say. You gave me the choice between this and leaving for good, so this is what I chose.

The General looks at him like she knows that. She looks at Rey like Rey holds the power to break her heart. Maybe Rey does. Rey has that kind of effect on people.

‘I wish I could keep you together,’ the General says, so quietly Finn almost misses it. ‘You and her.’

It’s okay, though. Rey has been away so long, and Finn missed her every day, but she’s going to be a Jedi and he’s going to be a mechanic, and they don’t need to cling to each other to survive. At least if they’re both with the Resistance, they can send holos and maybe even call. Rey _has_ to send holos: Finn has entrusted her with the care and feeding of Cabrón while he and Poe are both in deep space. He’s warned her about the watching-you-in-the-fresher thing, and she knows she has to take holos. (Not holos of her in the fresher, Poe had clarified. Rey looked at him like he was deranged, and then nearly died of laughter when Poe explained.)

Finn is up earlier than Poe, out on the tarmac priming fuel pumps and going through safety checks. Stretch is nowhere to be seen, which is odd, but Whraapu puts one finger to her lips conspiratorially, and they get on with their assigned tasks. 

Poe is the last of the pilots to show up in the hangar, which is also odd. Finn catches sight of Stretch, talking quietly to one of the Senior Airmen from Dagger Squad. Knowing Stretch, he suspects Stiletto Squad may soon regret whatever the outcome of this collaboration is.

Poe, when he shows up, is looking decidedly preoccupied. Finn worries, a little, but he can’t do anything about it now: he and the rest of the ground crew have to see the fighters off and then pack the last of their gear into the transport and ship out themselves.

Half of D’Qar base turns out to watch them go, lining up alongside the tarmac. And, again unusually, Poe isn’t in the lead. The rest of the squad taxi out, and Finn’s on the corner where they turn from tarmac to runway, yellow paddle in hand, so he counts them off as they go. Jess Pava. Snap. Ganba and Eyn, the two newest recruits in the squad. And behind them, Black One.

A shout goes up from the assembled onlookers. Finn mistakes it, for a second, for a cheer of support. The sight of Poe, or even just Poe’s ship, makes him grin in what he knows to be a ridiculous way, so it seems plausible to him that maybe everyone else also wants to cheer in joy at the sight of him.

Then he sees it. Jammed into the cockpit, so Poe’s essentially sitting in its lap: Pink Nexu. The mascot has been twisted so its face is pressed up against the synthglass, staring out at the assembled members of Dagger Squad as it and Poe taxi elegantly past. Finn makes the requisite motions with his yellow baton.

Poe waves, jauntily, and yanks up one fabric arm so Pink Nexu is waving too. And then they’re gone.

Finn turns back toward the hangar, grinning from ear to ear. Dagger squad can still be heard, howling in mixed outrage and delight.

‘Finn,’ Rey says, running up to him, ‘What the hell was that in Poe’s ship? Is that safe? Did he _steal_ it from someone? Why would he do that?’

Rey, Finn realises, a laugh bubbling up in his belly, has no idea about pranks. And, close on its heels comes the second thought: Rey has no idea about pranks and no one would expect her to. But she’s a _Jedi_ and can move things with her mind.

‘Rey,’ he says, very seriously, ‘I have some very important things to teach you.’

**Author's Note:**

> No one did a SPaG check on this, so shout if you see misspellings or missing punctuation or the like.


End file.
